Seeds into the Patch

Planted a row each of:

Carrot - Pusa Asita
Radish - Watermelon
Turnip - Tokyo White Cross F1

Also planted out some shop-bought lettuces and zucchini.  Some more radishes were planted around the zucchini as they should harvest before the zucchini starts to get big.

New Season

Time to start over...

Fresh set of seeds from Kings - but the price has gone up a bit. They still have the "free seeds if you spend over $40 deal" which I benefitted from.

Into pots in the green room has gone fresh seeds (and some old ones)

Squash Pink Banana Jumbo
Cucumber, English Greengrocer F1
Tomato bicolour Cherry (organic)
Marshmallow

These are unlikely to find their way into the patch as they will do better inside then out.

Also into pots went

Spinach Approach F1
Cauliflower All Year Round
Cabbage Premiere (organic)
Zucchini Partenon
Broccoli Tender Stem F1
Cauliflower Violet Sicilian
Lettuce Paris Island Cos
Lettuce Summer Queen
Lettuce Miner's Lettuce

These are all likely to get into the garden or the patch. The Miner's Lettuce is targeted as ground cover under the blackcurrants as apparently they'll spread on their own. The seeds are the smallest seeds I've ever seen.

A King's Ransom

This year's order with King's Seeds is:

Cucumber, Lemon
Radish, French Breakfast
Sage, Common
Cress, Moss Curled
Sugar Beet
Carrot, Solar Yellow
Cauliflower, Giant of Naples
Cauliflower, Orange Bouquet F1
Squash, Butternut Chieftain
Onion, Red Amposta
Pumpkin, Spookie
Tomato, Tommy Toe
Tomato, Beefsteak Select
Zucchini, Ambassador F1

To the grand total of $47.00 including postage.

Carrots

Planted a row of mixed carrots, 100 seeds. 4 varieties of Kaiotes seeds, and one from the Red Barn (in Dunedin). Five varieties, 20 seeds of each, mixed together, randomised, all in a row.

20 seeds each of:
    Red Barron orange carrots from Red Barn
    Purple Dragon purple carrots from Kaiotes
    Nitru Red red carrots from Kaiotes
    Kinbi yellow carrots from Kaiotes
    White Belgian white carrots from Kaiotes

Sprouting and harvest details are not included with the seeds.

Kaiotes Seeds

Winter was an chance to decide what to grow over this summer. For some reason heratige seeds took my fancy. After successes with Yates and Kings seeds, growing unusual vegies has appeal.

After all, as some say, why grow cauliflower in your garden when they'll flower just when they're cheapest and pleantiful in the supermarket. Well, because its fun, but point taken. There are two solutions, either grow them when they're not in the supermarkets, or grow something you can't buy.

So where do you get purple cauliflowers and red carrots? Trade-me (www.trademe.co.nz) is one place. The local merchant who had what I wanted Kaiotes. They were fast and efficient, we'll see if their seeds work later!

Kaiotes is:
Kai Flowers
25 Cowes St,
Kaitangata
New Zealand
kaiotes@xtra.co.nz
Phone (3)413-9896

Experiments

Planted a few seeds that in the past have been unsuccessful. This time, not expecting much, they were panted in an the area at the base of the tree behind the vege-patch.

One row each of:
Honeysweet Sweet Corn (Yates)
    Sprout 6-10 days, Harvest 12-14 weeks
Country Gentleman Corn (Kaiotes)
    Sprout 5-10 days, Harvest 90 days
Organic MarketMore Cucumber (Mr.Fohergill's)
    Sprout unknown, Harvest 8-10 weeks
Green Button Hybrid Squash (Yates)
    Sprout 6-10 days, Harvest 6-7 weeks

The Yates corn expired in August 2005 so not much hope there!

The area wasn't prepared too well, it wasn't dug over too deeply so not much hope is held. In previous years the corn hasn't sprouted and the cucumber plant remained about the size of my hand - no fruit. Cucumber was successful in the house last year and a few fruit, but the didn't grow larger then my thumb and were never harvested. Eventually through winter the plants witered and died.

Turnips and Onions

In go the first rows of turnips. One of the Yates Japanese Turnip (Hakurei). One half of Yates Turnip (Purple Top White Globe), and the other half row is from the seeds gathered last year and stored over the winter. When tested last year these home-seeds sprouted but were not grown to completion.

Turnips: sprout 6-10 days, harvest 10-12 weeks
J. Turnips: sprout 6-10 days, harvest 10 weeks

Yates Onion (sweet red). The packet says plant mid-autumn to late-winter. Spring is very late winter. Lets see if they work. Planted one row.

Onions: sprout 10-14 days, harvest 25-28 weeks (thats six months!).

Lettuce, Pak Choy, Spinach

The two barrels out the front were dug over and planted with lettuce. The beer-barrel had relatively moist soil whereas the other barrel had relatively dry soil. Both were broken weeded, broken up by hand, mixed through, and leveled off.

Wet wooden barrel was scattered with tons of Mr. Fothergill's Lettuce (Green Mignonette). They'll be thinned later if they sprout.

The other barrel was successful last year at both Yates Pak Choy (White Stem), and also at Yates Lettuce (cos). This year the same were planted, but a few (half a dozen?) Watkins Spinach (Winter Queen) were added in the middle seperating the two.

Pak Choy: sprout in 7-10 days, harvest in 6-8 weeks
Cos: sprout in 7-10 days, harvest in 8-10 weeks
Spinach: sprout in 7-20 days, harvest in 8-10 weeks
Green Mignonette: harvest in 10-12 weeks

Heritage Seeds

Couple of places that sell heritage seeds:

Konga Gardens Center for Sustailable Living. They sell organic heritage seeds from New Zealand including (subsequent generations of) those brought into the country by settlers.

Niche Imports (PO Box 8, Ashhurst, NZ (Ph:0800 115 343)). The garden center in Oamaru sells a seed range from niche seeds. This includes mostly seed mixes but there are some intereting combinations including "Carrot rainbow selection", a mix of different coloured carrots.